disappointment with J upgrade on QF 29

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In http://www.australianfrequentflyer....n-configuration-help-25680-49.html#post824659 I mentioned my excitement about my first J flight on Qantas (and my second J flight ever, after an AKL-MEL one on NZ a couple of years ago). I was disappointed after a number of issues before and during the flight. Below is what I sent through to the Customer Care feedback last night, and I'm interested to know if my concerns are reasonable! Thanks, Cameron.

Hello. I just flew on QF 29 from Melbourne to Hong Kong today, and this was my first flight in Business with Qantas. I was rather looking forward to it from the moment the upgrade came through. I feel however I must provide some feedback as I found the experience underwhelming and a little disappointing. There were five issues I had. Taken individually, I would consider each one a minor problem, but experiencing them all in the one flight contributed to the overall feeling of disappointment.

The first issue was boarding. According to International Business Class | Qantas I should have expected a dedicated Premium Boarding lane that I could have used during boarding. There did not appear to be one, so I lined up with everyone else -- which I didn't mind too much, as it was only 5 minutes or so waiting in line, but it is an advertised benefit of International Business Class. (I see on that page that Express Path Immigration is also mentioned. Is that something I should have been entitled too as well? I didn't receive the Express Path card when checking in.)

Second, once I was on board and sitting down, I did not get offered a pre-departure drink. I did see others with their juices and champagnes, and thought someone would eventually come around to me to ask if I wanted one, but apparently not. It being my first Business class flight, I did not want to speak out of turn or seem impatient, so I didn't say anything at the time.

The third issue -- and this is perhaps the most minor of them -- was the fact that the butter that came with our delicious bread for lunch was very cold and basically unspreadable. It really wasn't feasible to spread the butter on the bread, although I did try slicing the butter and putting chunks on it. A bit awkward. The cutlery too was quite cold, as if they had been refrigerated, which just made it a bit unpleasant to hold.

The fourth issue was with the main meal itself. I had ordered the chicken schnitzel sandwich. The sandwich came out quite a bit later than all of the other main dishes that others had ordered. No matter, that was apologised for. But I found when eating it that while most of the schnitzel was hot, there were parts of it that were still cool. Oh well, I had eaten most of it by that stage anyway, so I didn't say anything.

Finally, the most impactful issue, was the fact that the power outlets did not work for me. I was very much looking forward to getting a bunch of work done during the flight, but the power outlets at my seat did not work, even after a reset of the seat. I tried plugging my laptop into another (spare) seat's outlet which did have the green light on, but this just seemed to overload it and it turned off. In the end, I was only able to get a couple of hours work done before my laptop's battery was out. I should point out that the cabin crew were friendly and tried their best to get the power working for me, but to no avail.

So as you can see, these issues all added up to my feeling unimpressed with Business class, and it has left me wondering whether it was a good use of my 40,000 points at all. Thanks for reading, and I hope this feedback is useful.
 
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What's the power wattage of your adapter, I am betting it is greater than 75 W.
 
Very well written letter :)
I have experienced all of the things that you mention ( lack of priority boarding, missing PDB, incorrectly heated food and in-seat power failure) although not all on the same flight :!:
I think it is important to let QF know about your first experience of Int Business Class and I hope they respond to your complaint.
BTW I would say that overall in my QF int J trips they mostly get it right so don't be put off trying it again
 
I think you really lucked out. You certainly should have got the express card and PD drink. Maybe you should have sent the food back to give the crew some instanteous feedback and let them rectify the situation. As for the power point, never happened to me but seems unsual. I hope that CC follow up with you, my experience though is that they never do.
 
Looks like it is 85 W (for the 15" Retina MBP). If 75 W is the limit, then I guess that one is my fault then. :(

You would have been tripping the system:

The PC power is configured to provide a maximum of output of 75 watts. If the limit is exceeded by a user, which is possible on new version PCs the power to the user will be interrupted and can only be reset on the ground.

http://www.qantas.com.au/travel/airlines/inflight-communications/global/en#jump2

I am surprised how often I have to ask for it to be turned on, and in Y on the 744s the first row has them in an interesting position, took the CSM and me five minutes to find.
 
I recently wrote similar to QF Customer Care after being on a MEL-AKL flight in J, which was diverted due to tech issues to SYD, which resulted in a 3 hour delay into AKL and missing a DOM connection. As a result of the delay there was no hot meal served either, and the CSM and FA's said four times that they would be liaising with AirNZ etc to make sure everyone was taken care of - we weren't, and more than a few were left stranded in AKL as a result overnight. I mentioned that in that case, I felt they hadn't upheld their customer charter and was disappointed.

Customer care got back to me about a week later (maybe less!) and confirmed the plane went tech, and that as there was no domestic connection on the same PNR, bad luck. They didn't address the lack of food or incorrect info being given out (though it was the CSM's last flight apparently before leaving QF), but did acknowledge my disappointment and credited me 10k points.
 
I mentioned my excitement about my first J flight on Qantas (and my second J flight ever, after an AKL-MEL one on NZ a couple of years ago). I was disappointed after a number of issues before and during the flight. Below is what I sent through to the Customer Care feedback last night, and I'm interested to know if my concerns are reasonable!

Cameron good on you for providing feedback, I wish more people took the time to do so, it doesn't matter if it's positive or negative.

I would've asked for the meal to be reheated. The butter does take a while to that out, if the bread roll is warm I just place the butter on top of the opened roll. The most frustrating would've been not being able to use your laptop even though this wasn't QF's fault. I take a spare battery with me just in case and also have another laptop for my wife with all my data on it.
But that's overkill except for me since I travel for many months and need to have a working computer.

I hope you get a favourable response from Qantas but I wouldn't be expecting any reimbursement. :)
 
Hmmm.... I've been known to make similar complaints in a trip report or here on AFF, but I wouldn't necessarily bother the airline with an official complaint for such small issues. For example, cold butter is a bit of time waster for all involved, and it's addition into your letter make trivialise the whole thing. The missing pre-departure drink could be a simple 'lost amongst the madness' issue, and lets face it - you could've asked for a drink but didn't do so. The sandwich being incorrectly heated would be something i'd raise with the crew directly on the flight, surely they would've wanted to hear this feedback. As Markis10 said, the laptop problem was probably due to your adapter, again - not such a big QF issue.
 
The third issue -- and this is perhaps the most minor of them -- was the fact that the butter that came with our delicious bread for lunch was very cold and basically unspreadable. It really wasn't feasible to spread the butter on the bread, although I did try slicing the butter and putting chunks on it. A bit awkward. The cutlery too was quite cold, as if they had been refrigerated, which just made it a bit unpleasant to hold.

The hard butter used to bug me as well but now I've taken to putting the packet underneath the hot dish that holds the food for a few moments - a rudimentary warming method that soon has the butter toasty warm and easily spreadable. This is assuming you have a hot dish to use. The cutlery is always chilly cold, perhaps it's kept in the fridge along with the food but I don't know.
 
The hard butter used to bug me as well but now I've taken to putting the packet underneath the hot dish that holds the food for a few moments.

Now that's good idea I will adopt on my next flight, thanks Flyingfan.
 
The hard butter used to bug me as well but now I've taken to putting the packet underneath the hot dish that holds the food for a few moments - a rudimentary warming method that soon has the butter toasty warm and easily spreadable.

HA! You're not the only one - I've even resorted to that for my bread roll as well...
 
The hard butter used to bug me as well but now I've taken to putting the packet underneath the hot dish that holds the food for a few moments - a rudimentary warming method that soon has the butter toasty warm and easily spreadable. This is assuming you have a hot dish to use. The cutlery is always chilly cold, perhaps it's kept in the fridge along with the food but I don't know.

Haha, I do this all the time and I get somewhat of a funny look sometimes from the person next to me or the FA. With cold dishes, the butter gets a Mr Miyagi palm rub :)

As for the laptop issue and its power supply....its a common issue and not only can the size of the power supply be the issue but also in the design with regards to the inrush current of the power supply when initially plugged in to charge the rectifier stage capacitors. Unfortunately you can't easily fix the poor design. Another thing, perhaps try to plug the power supply in without the laptop plugged in first. A last resort could be to run run the laptop without the battery attached but this could be risky if the DC power connector is not the reliable when moved around.

A lower rated power supply or simply an aftermarket unit may work better.
 
You don't get packet butter in J, you get a pot. Makes its hard to do the old friction trick, or even putting it under a hot dish. This IS the frozen butter thread yeah?
 
The fourth issue was with the main meal itself. I had ordered the chicken schnitzel sandwich. The sandwich came out quite a bit later than all of the other main dishes that others had ordered. No matter, that was apologised for. But I found when eating it that while most of the schnitzel was hot, there were parts of it that were still cool. Oh well, I had eaten most of it by that stage anyway, so I didn't say anything.

That things gross... had it out of SIN a few weeks ago and it was hands down the worst QF meal I've ever had. Half heated would have been even worse!
 
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